The Pentagon: A History
Steve Vogel. New York: Random House Inc., 2007. 656 pp. Illus. Notes. Bib. Index. $32.95.
Creation of the Pentagon from the ground up during World War II remains one of the greatest construction feats in U.S. history. In only 17 months, Army Brigadier General Brehon Somervell conceived, gained approval for, and managed erection of a military building that ranks with the White House as an American icon.
In this widely acclaimed book, the author tells the fascinating story of this incredible undertaking. Along with his description of the tempestuous and shrewd General Somervell, he draws absorbing portraits of other leading figures: President Franklin Roosevelt; Secretary of War Henry Stimson; Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall; feisty overseer Colonel Leslie Groves (later head of the Manhattan Project); and John McShain, the builder whose relationship with the President landed him the project.
Post-World War II history of the Pentagon is traced from its critical moments, such as the difficult birth of the Department of Defense in 1947, and its role as focal point of the huge 1967 protest against the Vietnam War. With regard to the 9/11 terrorist attack, Vogel notes that many renovations clearly saved lives. Even so, "the real credit for why the Pentagon performed as well as it did—and why so many escaped—belonged to its builders."
The photos and accompanying captions are excellent. They feature key personalities, aerial views of construction from ground breaking to finish, and startling reminders of the extensive damage suffered on 9/11.
Steve Vogel, a veteran military reporter for The Washington Post, has written an epic work that transcends partisan politics. It is worthy of the highest historical honors.
A Military Guide to Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century
U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. Fort Leavenworth, KS: TRADOC Intelligence Support Activity—Threats, 2007. 181 pp. Illus. Notes. Appen. Gloss. Bib. No price.
This latest guide to terrorism updates similar Army publications dating from 2003. Focusing on known principal threats to the United States, it is a primer designed to support institutional training, professional military education, and operational missions for U.S. military forces.
The introduction points out that the main purpose is to create situational awareness and an understanding of terrorism. Accordingly, there are explanations of everything from current terrorist threats and motivations, to their organizational models, and what the coming years may hold for us.
Two parts are especially interesting. Chapter 4 assesses potential targeting of U.S. forces by establishing three environments as a framework for friendly force protection and risk management: units deployed in missions, units in transit to or from such missions, and units primarily static in installations or support sites. Chapter 5 examines probable future terrorist trends, including enhanced weapons and methods of attack, exploited media marketing, and escalation of ideological extremism.
The three appendices provide much useful information. The first describes the ability of terrorists to abbreviate complex planning and carry out operations in reduced time periods. The second uses illustrations and photos to survey the conventional small arms they employ. And the third graphically reviews their munitions, from fragmentation grenades to artillery shells.
The guidebook's excerpt from an ABC News interview of Osama Bin Laden in 1998 should be aired in Washington every week: "We have seen in the last decade the decline of the American government and the weakness of the American soldier who is ready to wage Cold Wars and unprepared to fight long wars. This was proven in Beirut when the Marines fled after two explosions. It also proves they can run in less than 24 hours, and this was also repeated in Somalia."
Taste of Salt: A WWII Skipper Looks Back
Theodore R. Treadwell. New York: iUniverse, Inc. 2007. 227 pp. Illus. Appen. $19.95.
Here is the tale of one man's transition from "Landlubber 1/c" to commander of a subchaser in the South Pacific. It relates the author's four years of active duty in the Navy Reserve during World War II and his two-year tour on the USS SC 648.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, while still a student, young Theodore Treadwell realized that he could be called up immediately, before finishing his MBA degree at Harvard. "In the meantime, we could study, party, and live it up—which we did, but not in that order." With good fortune, he graduated in June 1942, and then reported for training as a brand-new ensign.
Treadwell traces passing experiences at several naval stations before receiving his first assignment as assistant base gunnery officer in New Caledonia. He was soon dissatisfied, however, and his "longing to be part of the seagoing Navy became obsessive." With his hard-nosed captain's approval, he finally reported to SC 648 for duty.
The book aptly describes life on a subchaser, the smallest commissioned warship in the Navy, where conditions for the 28-man crew were extremely cramped and harsh especially as the ship's corkscrew pounding even in moderate seas permitted neither sleep nor rest for anyone. The first appendix provides brief biographies of the author's shipmates and others who contributed to his naval service, while the second is a complete roster of all hands assigned to the SC 648 throughout her short life of three years and seven months.
Taste of Salt is a thoroughly engaging account of service on a little-known class of ship. Not least, it gives us a revealing view of the author—a man with a delightful sense of humor who was resolute when it counted.
Colonel Keiser, a former editor at the U.S. Naval Institute, is the author of the U.S. Marine Corps and Defense Unification: 1944-1947 (Nautical & Aviation Publishing Company of America, 1996).
Jade Rooster
Captain Roger Lee Crossland, U.S. Navy Reserve (Retired). Lake Junalaska, NC: Broadsides Press, 2006. 263 pp. $17.95.
China, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines of 1913 may be unfamiliar historic or geographical venues for a complex, nautical mystery, but Jade Rooster acclimates itself and showcases a solid, captivating flair for gripping, detailed, exhilarating fiction.
The author wields a unique literary sword, with minimal feints, within an intricate labyrinth of clues and barrels of fascinating data, naval and cultural. Descriptions by clothing, language, and character of heroes (clever, intuitive Quartermaster Hobson, his buddies Oyster Pirate, Tiger Cheng, buck dancer Jackson), simpatico mudangs (shamans), and various high- and low-lifes alike, are flawless. Action and script, occasionally horrific with everything from severed heads to sperm whale intestines "up or down current like scuttlebutt," is contextually appropriate.
Crossland's pirates/bandits/opportunists, in name or demeanor, are more Pirates of the Caribbean than the Mikado/ Penzance variety, but Wallace Beery, Popeye Doyle, Steve McQueen, and Orlando Bloom would blend-in with a theme song from Puccini by the Grateful Dead. After story-integrated brain teasing, tantalizing event and name dropping illusions, the author amiably serves up a summation of historical facts to help readers cull out the fictions.
Roosters—jade, barnyard, barques (funnels), tattoos, et al—symbolized victory during 19th and 20th centuries, teach courtesy per the Talmud, constitute the tenth sign of the Chinese Zodiac, and purportedly protect from yin energy, "the unseen world." Readers feast on plenty of that—in a challenging but eminently engaging and titillating spellbinder.
Reviewed by Alice A. Booher